Dogs need a hierarchy to live inside of, and for some dogs the position of alpha is an innate goal that needs to be met. If the owner does not create and provide a hierarchy, the dog has no choice but to take the position for itself.
Taking your dog to the dog park is like leaving your child unattended in a juvenile detention centre for a day and not expecting them to develop some sort of behavioural problem’.
I’ve raised a lot of puppies over the years and have always found this to be a very rewarding and enjoyable experience. For some crazy reason, at a very busy time of my life, I thought it would be a good idea to take on three puppies at once.
Quite a few years ago, I was sitting in a sizeable Veterinary clinic with one of my dogs, and a couple came in with a young Cattle dog. I could see them struggling with him from the moment they got him out of the car.
My first experience of this was when I was 12 years old. I had a German Short Haired Pointer (GSP) and her name was Bronlea or Bronnie. I had known her from a couple of weeks of age as a family friend had bred her.
An all too common issue for a lot of dogs, unfortunately. Yet it is mostly preventable and is definitely treatable.
I have met so many people over the years that have told me they do not see the value in training their dog yet in the next breath they will complain about their dogs’ behaviour. As with all dog trainers and enthusiasts, it leaves us shaking our heads and feeling extremely frustrated.
We all talk a lot about changing or eliminating a dogs behaviour. But what about stopping the dog from learning the behaviour in the first place. Just as I stated in my last blog I had created a behaviour in Odin that was completely contextual to only my son.
Obviously, dog trainers understand the importance of socializing and training our dogs. We all go out of our way to ensure that both of these things happen. Trainers spend a huge amount of time just observing dog’s behaviour
This particular subject always reminds of a Mini Fox Terrier that I helped with many years ago and yes some of them really do stay with you. It was a friend of a friend and their little Foxy was very sweet, affectionate and very social with everyone.
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